


constellations

by lovebeyondmeasure



Series: zvezda moya [6]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, well....as fluffy as I ever write these two
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-24
Updated: 2017-12-24
Packaged: 2019-02-19 10:06:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13121496
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lovebeyondmeasure/pseuds/lovebeyondmeasure
Summary: "It’s amazing how in almost every culture, people looked up at the stars and found meaning.”Natasha looked over at Maria, whose face was as open as the sky unfurling wide above them.--------------------In the long summer evening, Maria takes Natasha for a picnic.





	constellations

**Author's Note:**

  * For [avesnongrata](https://archiveofourown.org/users/avesnongrata/gifts).



> My first Blackhill in a while... please enjoy, and send me prompts any time @ lovebeyondmeasure.tumblr.com

“Natasha,” Maria said, halfway up the trail, “why do you have a baton?”

“What?” Natasha did not look apologetic, only mildly confused.

“I told you I was taking you for a nice, quiet evening. You don’t need a baton for a picnic.”

“I thought,” and now Natasha sounded defensive, but so very slightly that only a few people on earth would have understood it, “I thought that perhaps you were speaking in code.”

“Natasha, we were eating breakfast,” Maria sighed. “In my apartment. Our apartment. Which you regularly sweep for bugs and surveillance. There was no reason to assume I was speaking in code.”

Natasha shifted her weight. Maria simply looked at her, candidly and without judgement, letting her girlfriend process and respond in her own time.

“I rarely feel safe in nature,” she said finally. “In the Red Room, it was… being sent out into the forest was not an adventure.”

“Oh,” Maria said. She hadn’t thought… But of course she hadn’t. “I’m sorry. Well, if your baton makes you feel better, by all means.”

“I’m sorry, _zvezda moya_ ,” Natasha said. “I am trying.”

“I know you are,” Maria smiled softly. She stepped closer, placed a gentle hand on Natasha’s cheek. “I know.” She leaned forward, pressed a kiss to her soft lips.

“Thank you,” Natasha whispered. 

“Well, we’re almost there,” Maria said, leaning back. “Let’s get to the top, then we can eat.”

“It’s getting dark,” Natasha said conversationally. “Is it safe?”

“I have flashlights,” Maria shrugged. “And I know this trail, these woods.”

“Okay,” Natasha said as they set off once more. “I trust you.”

And when they reached the lookout point, Maria knew it had been worth it; Natasha stood still in the cool evening air, looking out over the misty rolling blue hills, into the bruised sunset, as the crickets began to sing. The breeze set her red hair fluttering around her face, and Maria sat at the picnic table and watched the way the light and wind played over Natasha’s closed eyes, her unclenched hands. There, on what felt like the edge of the world, Natasha had never looked so utterly peaceful.

“Thank you for this, _zvezda moya,_ ” Natasha said eventually. “This was…”

“It’s a very peaceful place,” Maria filled in when Natasha seemed unable to finish her sentence. “I come here when I can. It gives you a sense of your place in the universe.”

“Yes,” Natasha said, reaching for the food Maria had been placing on the table. “And you have packed our leftovers. How thrifty of you.”

Maria knew this cool tone was Natasha teasing her; without moving a muscle in her face, she threw a pear at Natasha’s head, which was caught and bitten into. They looked at each other and shared a long, slow smile.

As they ate, the sun slipped its way into twilight. Maria produced second layers for them both, tucking herself into a soft flannel as Natasha pulled on a well-loved hoodie.

“Don’t we look like a couple of lesbians our enjoying nature,” Maria said, straight-faced. Natasha raised an eyebrow, her lips quirking.

“Well, yes. I should think so.”

Maria leaned forward to kiss her. “Ready for the best part?”

Natasha looked surprised, which may or may not have been real. “Is what I have seen already not the best part?”

“Well, it’s not my favorite part,” Maria said. She had finished clearing the food away, and now threw a thin blanket over the tabletop. “Come lie down.”

“Are we going to enjoy carnal delights here? Because I do think this could be better accomplished elsewhere, although if it the location you desire, of course I’ll….”

Maria was laughing, a real, honest laugh, the kind she rarely indulged in. It negated her hard-faced self at work; her nose scrunched up, her teeth were bared, and her shoulders shook. Natasha watched her, a rush of sweet longing finding its way, unexpectedly, into her heart. She really did love this woman.

“No, Natasha, oh my god,” Maria said. “No, lie down and look up. At the sky.”

“Are we here to look at the stars?” Natasha asked as she clambered atop the table. “I know the stars, _zvezda moya_ , although it does seem appropriate, considering.”

“Yes, true,” Maria said. “And yes, I did bring you here to look at the stars. But it’s not because of the nickname.” She sighed, lacing her fingers through her girlfriend’s. “My grandfather used to bring me to this outlook, among others, and tell me stories. He’d show me the constellations, teach me how to chart their movements, how to navigate by them.”

“Which stories did he tell you?” Natasha asked. Maria didn’t give parts of her past up lightly, not even between them. The past was a land neither of them preferred to tread, most of the time.

“All of them,” Maria said, surprising her once more. “You could call it his hobby, I guess. He learned all the constellations he could, from all kinds of cultures. He started me with the Greek ones, of course, but I know some Native American constellations, some of the South American ones, and lots of Chinese ones too. It’s amazing how in almost every culture, people looked up at the stars and found meaning.”

Natasha looked over at Maria, whose face was as open as the sky unfurling wide above them. 

“And coming up here, away from all the people, all the noise and the light pollution,” Maria said, “I think this is where my grandfather found his religion, you know? How he understood the universe. So I try to come up here, every so often, and try to see what he saw.”

“Try to find what he found?” Natasha asked softly. Maria nodded, still looking upward.

“Yeah. Maybe. I think he had the right idea, you know? To remember that even when all your problems seem so big, in the larger scheme, we’re all so small. And even the stars are just points of light from the right angle.”

“Maria,” Natasha said. “I have said this before, but I want to say it again, now. You are the star of my life.”

Maria turned to look, and found only truth on Natasha’s inscrutable face. 

“Yeah?”

Natasha nodded. “Yeah.” Leaning in, Maria pressed her forehead to Natasha’s, and they lay there for a time, letting the sweeping expanse of the universe spin by above them.


End file.
